The main reason you struggle to stop something you "know" is bad for you, or to continue something you "know" is good for you, is because you don't actually know. True knowledge goes beyond hearing it once, reading it somewhere, or being told it’s good or bad.
I used to be a sucker for sweet things. Luckily, my mom limited my access to sugary snacks when I was young. But as I grew older, I made up for lost time, indulging in sweets, particularly Japanese sodas. In England, I snacked on English sweets all the time. Oh, and those energy drink sodas called Lucozade—I was a complete sucker for them. I had so many that I ended up winning a Lucozade hoodie. Yeah I know, it was bad!
Even then, as an athlete, I thought, "I know it's bad for me, but I work out all the time, so it balances out, right?" Wrong!
Fast forward almost a decade, and I’m much fitter, stronger, and healthier than I was at 18. The difference? I took the time to learn, apply, and understand the actual knowledge about things labeled as good or bad for you. With sugar, once I understood what it is and why it could harm my body and brain, it was easier to lay off it. Now, I only eat sweets knowing the potential cons or I might consume sugar when I need immediate energy or to replenish my glycogen stores.
This approach applies to carbs as well, since sugars are a form of carbohydrate. Carbs consist of glucose, a monosaccharide that our body uses for energy. Sucrose, or table sugar, is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose. Glucose can be used immediately for energy but can cause harm if it stays in the bloodstream too long. High blood sugar levels can lead to insulin resistance and diabetes. Table sugar is often considered worse because fructose can only be metabolized by the liver, potentially causing issues like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Given our high sugar consumption today, it's easy to overdo it. Understanding why sugar is bad has turned me off from drinking soda completely, and I probably won't touch one again.
The same principle applies to maintaining good habits. You need to understand why something is good for you to find purpose and direction. I heard cold showers were beneficial, so I tried them. But without understanding their benefits, I lacked consistency. Once I learned and understood their purpose, I became consistent. Now, my body and brain know the benefits, urging me to take cold showers.
If you struggle to quit a bad habit or maintain a good one, it's because you just don't know. You might think you know it’s good or bad for you, but in reality you don't truly understand and that ultimately shows in your inability to stay consistent.
The great news though is that if I can do it, then absolutely so can you, and you, and even you! Choose one thing that you've been struggling to quit or wanting to start, and take the time to learn about it. The reason why Stackers are consistent with stacking sats is because we've all done our due diligence to learn about Bitcoin, about the fiat system, and about all the other subjects that we come across in the rabbit hole journey. Same goes with developing healthy habits and kicking bad ones to the curb for good, we have to know exactly why we are doing it.
Knowledge is power.